Original Art of the Month

Scarlett Raven and her new studio at the end of her garden in West Sussex.

Inspiration from motherhood

Now a mother to both son Harvey and new daughter Summer, Scarlett is currently working from her new home studio at the end of her garden in West Sussex, built by her and her husband Luke, so she can more easily combine painting with looking after her growing family.

Scarlett opened up about the incredible experience of motherhood in her last collection I am Re-born, celebrating her rediscovered joy and appreciation of colour and nature after seeing it again through the eyes of Harvey.

With babies around, things often get messy, and this is nothing new for Scarlett, who often paints with her hands to add emotion and texture. With a studio now so close to home, she and her children can spend quality time together – and Scarlett has a space of her own to work on her beautiful impasto style landscapes.

“To be able to build and design a studio in my garden, I’ve been crying with happiness. It feels like, other than my husband and children, a huge pinnacle moment in my life and in my work. One of the best things about my studio is that it’s in my garden, which means anytime I feel inspiration, day or night I can go straight into the studio and paint, it’s my own space.”

Throughout her career Scarlett’s paintings have highlighted the beauty of nature and colour, interspersed with messages of love and hope including her groundbreaking augmented reality series, with Marc Marot, The Danger Tree, named after the last tree left standing after the WWI Battle of the Somme.

Scarlett's work

Inspired by Van Gogh and Frieda Kahlo, Scarlett studied Fine Art at Central St Martins and managed to secure her first solo exhibition on Cork Street a year before graduating. She grew up in a creative household; her late father was saxophonist Raphael Ravenscroft, who played the iconic sax part on Gerry Rafferty’s Baker Street, and after working as a waitress at the famous Troubadour music venue in Chelsea (where Bob Dylan made his UK debut), one of her paintings was displayed in the Troubadour’s window where it caught the eye of actor Orlando Bloom, who became a good friend to Scarlett.

Overcoming barriers

Scarlett found elements of study at Central Saint Martin’s challenging, as she struggled with her mental health and socialising. She was too scared to go to lectures and be around people, so she focussed on art, working three jobs to pay for her paints and fees – however, the benefits of spending so much time on her own was that she was able to accelerate her craft without distraction. 

Scarlett’s 2021 I Am Reborn collection celebrated the renewal she found in motherhood. The pieces explored the depiction of trees and nature and showed how motherhood had given her purpose and reintroduced her to life again, to painting again and she felt literally reborn, as a braver, stronger woman. In being forced to hand power over to nature and motherhood, Scarlett emerged as her true self, without ego, without anxiety and without expectation, allowing her to explore her painting in a renewed manner as if seeing the world for the first time.